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By Debra Wood, RN, contributor

With nurses in short supply, some hospitals have added innovative programs to ease daily stresses and build loyalty.

Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, began offering concierge services about a year ago to staff as well as patients and their families. Some nurses have become big fans.

Andrea Kline, RN, MS, PCCNP, a nurse practitioner in the pediatric ICU at Children’s Memorial, stops to purchase stamps, send packages UPS, drop off dry cleaning or to have her shoes or jewelry repaired. She finds the concierges personable and efficient and the prices competitive.

“I like that I don’t have to make trips anywhere else and can get my errands done while at work,” Kline said. “And I don’t have to worry about the store or post office being closed when I get off work. It’s a huge convenience.”

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, also offers on-site dry cleaning drop off, film developing, car care, jewelry repair and event planning. Employees pay the going rate for services with no markup.

“We have a lot of people using the service that let us know they love it,” said Susie Lyons, manager of employee programs for Vanderbilt. “This is a wonderful benefit, because it is not a tremendous cost for the medical center.”

Concierges do not accept tips and may research the best travel deals for employees or keep track of birthdays or anniversaries. They then will send the employee a reminder about the date and offer to send flowers or a gift basket.

Julie Foss, RN, MSN, manager of the medical intensive care unit at Vanderbilt, enjoys dropping off and picking up dry cleaning at the hospital and having her car washed while she works.

“It’s so helpful,” Foss said. “You can be at work, and you’re getting something done [for home]. Your time when you are not at work is truly your own. You don’t have to worry about errands.”

Errand Solutions of Chicago provides the services at Children’s Memorial, Vanderbilt and more than a dozen other hospitals across the United States. Health care represents the fastest growing segment of the company’s business.

“There is a nursing and medical-staff shortage, and hospitals are becoming more creative in how they recruit and retain staff,” said Marsha McVicker, founder and chief executive officer of Errand Solutions. “This benefit has an impact on the entire organization.”

McVicker estimates 98 percent of eligible employees use the service and rank it as one of the top five benefits offered at their hospitals.

“They say we save them 16 hours a month,” McVicker said. “I get thank you notes from nurses, including one who said she was able to feed her family a decent meal, because we had it delivered.”

Interest-free, forgivable loan initiatives to assist employees in purchasing a home offer another approach to supporting employees’ personal needs.

“It’s a great thing, especially for the community and a good incentive to buy a home in the area,” said Natosha Jackson, RN, BSN, a staff nurse in the medical intensive care pavilion at Shands Jacksonville in Florida.

Jackson closed on her home in March and received a $5,000 soft loan from Shands. She now has a five-minute commute. Shands Jacksonville limits the loan programs to first-time home purchases by full-time employees wanting to live within the historic area near the hospital.

“We want to strengthen the neighborhood, pull it up by the bootstraps and help our employees,” said Ed Roberts, employer assisted homeownership program coordinator for Shands Jacksonville. “It’s another indication of our strong commitment to employees. We do this with an eye toward helping our employees become more stable employees and eliminate some of the irritants, like commutes to work.”

Other hospitals, including Baptist Health in Jacksonville, do not restrict the location of home purchases. However, Baptist employees can receive an additional $1,000 if they purchase a home in an area designated by the Florida Housing Finance Corp. as a community revitalization area.

Loans are forgiven at a rate of $1,000 per year. If the nurse stays five years, he or she would owe nothing. Someone who leaves after three years must pay back $2,000.

The programs typically include counseling and education about homeownership, presented by an outside housing organization.

“Most of the employees find out they need to get their finances in order before they buy a home, and they are put on a plan,” said Mark Lusson, vice president of human resources at Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Illinois. “Employees like it. They get their finances together and get into their first-time house. It gets them closer to work. Most of them will stay the five years.”

In Illinois, the state offers tax credits to hospitals offering the programs, in hope of decreasing traffic congestion. Nonprofit Northwest Community requires the homes be within 13 miles of the hospital. It sells the credits to another entity to recoup some of the program’s cost.

Although the home-buying initiatives are designed to attract and retain staff, hospitals find that even employees not qualifying for the loan program, such as those who already own houses, appreciate the hospital offering it.

“The halo effect is unbelievable,” Lusson said. “What people see is a company willing to do different things to help out its employees.”

© 2005. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.